The History of the Cosmic Supernova Rate Derived from the Evolution of the Host Galaxies

Abstract

We make a prediction of the cosmic supernova rate history as a composite of the supernova rates in spiral and elliptical galaxies. We include the metallicity effect on the evolution of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) progenitors and construct detailed models for the evolutions of spiral and elliptical galaxies in clusters and the field to meet the latest observational constraints. In the cluster environment, the synthesized cosmic star formation rate (SFR) has an excess at z ≳ 3 corresponding to the early starburst in ellipticals and a shallower slope from the present to the peak at the redshift of z ~ 1.4 compared with Madau's plot. In the field environment, we assume that ellipticals form over a wide range of redshifts as 1 ≲ z ≲ 4. The synthesized cosmic SFR has a broad peak around z ~ 3, which is in good agreement with the observed one. The resultant cosmic SFRs lead to the following predictions for the cosmic SN Ia rate: (1) the SN Ia rate in spirals has a break at z ~ 2 because of the low-metallicity inhibition of SNe Ia, regardless of whether the galaxies are in clusters or in the field; (2) at high redshifts, the SN Ia rate has a strong peak around z ~ 3 in clusters, whereas in the field much lower rate is expected, reflecting the difference in the formation epochs of ellipticals.